A sailing trip I won't soon forget!

Sun, Jul 13 - Tues Jul 15

This blog entry will be different than most I've done before.  I always use pictures as a major part of any entry.  However, this time the story is the point.  We didn't take any pictures when it got interesting.  We were busy!

Joe and I had planned to take this trip a few weeks back.  When looking at our calendars, we realized that our two schedules were so tied up, that we only had four days this summer that the two of us could take our sailboat out, so we marked the calendars and planned the trip.  Actually, there is very little planning for our trips.  A couple days before we are leaving, Joe calls and says he'll get the food if you'll get the drinks.  Trip planned!

Sunday the weather was perfect.  We got underway around 11 am.  At the end of the channel into our marina, we can either turn left and go to Cape Lookout or right and go the the Neuse River and all of it's hidden anchorages.  On the way out the channel, we decided to turn left and go to the Cape.

It was an absolutely perfect afternoon for casual sailing.  We entered the ocean through Beaufort Inlet and found 10-13 knots of wind and sailed the entire afternoon on smooth waters and perfect winds.  Late in the afternoon we anchored in the bight at the Cape, swam a while, ate supper and called it a day.

Monday I realized that I had forgotten to bring gasoline for the dinghy.  So I called Clara and we made arrangements to meet her at the Finz dock in Beaufort and she delivered a gallon of gas.  That meant we sailed back to Beaufort, picked up the gas (and a roll of trash bags), never even stopping at the dock, and sailed back out to the Cape.  A long day of sailing in a freshening breeze with winds today of 15-22 knots. Perfect for a vigorous sail in building seas.

A vigorous sail

When we swam yesterday, we noted that the bottom of the hull of Eureka had a layer of scum on the bottom and the prop had some barnacles growing on it.  This isn't unusual because it had been nearly a year since we had hauled the boat and painted the bottom (a biannual event).  So, Joe put on his scuba gear and the two of us worked on the bottom the rest of the day.

The prop was encrusted with barnacles.

Late in the afternoon I swam to shore.  I had seen some people kayaking to shore and it seemed that they were setting up camp to spend the night.  I was interested in what a small group might be doing, so went over to them to inquire after getting to shore.  Interestingly, they were a group of Outward Bound.  There were ten students and three instructors.  The instructors appeared to be in their early 20's and all the students were 16 to 18 years old.  They were in their second week of a two week class paddling and living on Core Banks and Shackleford.  They had to be one tough group of kids and young adults to have lived for two weeks in tents and living in the sand.  I imagine they will be finding sand in interesting places on their bodies for quite a while after getting home.

Overnight, we both noted that the wind had increased.  The forecasts, which are notably unreliable for wind speeds (usually underestimated) was calling for up to 30 knots of wind Tuesday afternoon and the chances of rain were increasing Tuesday night and Wednesday.

We had planned to stay out until Wednesday when Joe had to get back for a planned trip on Thursday.

So Tuesday morning, in our usual method of planning, we decided we'd head back toward Beaufort and tuck in behind Shackleford Banks for the night.  No big deal.  We'd be close to the marina if the weather turned bad on Wednesday and by leaving early Tuesday, we'd miss the predicted strong winds Tuesday afternoon.

We noted that the winds were already up to 22-25 knots, so we reefed both the main and jib about 50% to make the ride back to the inlet a little more comfortable.  We knew that the seas would have built up quite a bit overnight with the Southwest wind.

As we came out of the bight into the ocean, we quickly found that the seas had built up quite substantially and the winds were a solid 25 knots.  So about a quarter mile out, I decided to reef in the jib a little more. We were already beginning to heel 30-40 degrees and a little less sail would help reduce that.

In order to reef, we had to let the sheets (lines) out on the jib (the big sail on the bow) to release the pressure so as to be able to roll the sail in a little (the jib is on a roller furling).

In the rolling seas and strong wind, as soon as we release pressure on the sheets, the sheets (lines) and the sail are banging and slapping, making a tremendous racket.  All of a sudden I hear a loud bang and see the jib sheet on the port (left) side pop in two pieces.  This is not supposed to happen!  I immediately check and see that one part of the sheet is hanging over the side of the boat and I can get to it.  So I start to haul it back on the boat but it won't budge.  It seems to be stuck to the bottom of the boat.  The other end of the sheet is tied to the jib so I retrieve it and tie it off to a rail so it won't be banging around the deck.

But now, we don't have the capability of tacking because we don't have a sheet on the port side.  Plus, we have a part of the sheet somehow stuck on the bottom of the boat.

We immediately turn around and head back to the safety of the bight to try and figure out what is happening.

As we are now motoring back to bight, we note that the engine seems to be running very rough.  As RPM is increased, the whole boat is shaking.  So we keep the RPM low, get back to the bight and drop the anchor.

We know we have to find out what is making the boat shake and we have to find out why the sheet is not coming up from the bottom of the boat.  At this point, I'm thinking that somehow, the sheet has entangled in the prop and somehow, the prop is still turning, or the sheet has gotten caught on the prop and broken or bent one of the blades.

As soon as we put the engine in neutral, I tug on the sheet that is stuck underneath the boat and it comes up. So the sheet must have been somehow wrapped in the prop or shaft and dropped off when we put it in neutral, but that doesn't seem possible.  If it had caught in the prop or shaft, it would have wrapped around it.  Nothing made sense.

We get anchored in relatively calm waters inside the bight.  Joe puts on his mask and snorkel as soon as we anchor and goes overboard to see if he can find the sheet and find out what is causing the shaking.  He dives and comes back up and reports that nothing is wrong with the prop.  There is no missing blade, no ropes or lines.  Everything is normal.

At this time, I call Tow Boat US with whom we have towing insurance to let them know we may need assistance.  I tell them that I think we can sail back to the Beaufort Inlet, but when we get there, we'll probably need assistance because of our engine vibration problem.  They say they'll be there, just call when we're closer.  (It's about a 7 mile sail back to the inlet and that could take an hour or two).

We have to start the engine and engage the transmission in order to get the anchor up, and now the engine seems to be running okay - no vibration.  A total mystery.

So we up anchor and head out to the ocean again to sail back to the Beaufort Inlet.  However, by now, the winds are beginning to increase.

For the next hour or so, with a now much reefed main and jib, we encounter the highest winds and largest waves that either of us has experienced on Eureka.  The winds now stay between 25 and 30 knots and the seas are running around 8+ feet (NOAA radio calls them 6 foot seas, but I know different).  We are taking water over the bow and into the cockpit, the rail is in the water most of the time, and we are being tossed around in the cockpit.  At some points, I felt that the only way I was able to stay in the cockpit was because I was holding onto the wheel or braced across the cockpit.  Joe and I relieve each other on the helm as the helmsman is fighting the helm constantly trying to keep the boat from broaching.

After an hour of seeing GPS speeds of 8+ knots (normally we see 5-6 knots), winds constantly increasing, and seas growing, and water flying over the bow, sliding down sides of wave, rails in the water and water gushing into the cockpit we finally get back to the Beaufort Inlet.  

It surprises me how much a couple of knots of wind makes on the handling of the boat and the power it exerts on the sails.  I can tell the difference in 27 knots and 28 knots just by how much the boat heels and how much water is coming over the side.  The times we saw 30 knots, it just seemed like all we could do was hang on and hope it dropped back to 28 or 29 quickly.

We have run the engine the entire time to help stabilize the boat, so we now are confident that we won't be needing a tow and call Tow Boat and let them know.

During this entire trip, Joe and I probably exchange only a half dozen comments.  We are both mesmerized by the seas, and wondering what could go wrong.  If anything further had gone wrong while we were in these seas, there wasn't much chance we could do anything about it.  We certainly couldn't maneuver to get below deck and we sure couldn't get up on the foredeck.  We just hoped nothing else happened, and thankfully it didn't.

As we were coming in the inlet, I informed Joe, that I wasn't interested in anchoring behind Shackleford tonight.  I was ready to take Eureka back to the slip.  There was no argument from him.  The sail had been memorable, but not one that I would choose to continue today or repeat any day.

As we motor sail back North to our slip, I begin to get concerned about how we're going to get into our slip. Obviously we have done this hundreds of times, but never with a 25 knot tailwind.  As we come in the channel and approach the slip, the boat doesn't slow down when I pull the power back.  We are heading toward expensive boats and a seawall.  I continually had to apply lots of power to slow the boat while trying to keep the boat heading in the right direction.

After a lot of reverse thrust and getting the bow on the correct side of the piling, we are able to get the lines secured and are safely back.

Joe and I are exhausted and collapse below deck, opened a beer and didn't speak for quite a while.  We were both totally awed by the mental and physical challenges we had overcome.

Shortly, after a couple more beers, we started recalling what had happened.  We both questioned why we had decided that we had to get back today - we could have easily spent another night and hoped conditions improved.

Then we both questioned why we didn't think to put on life vests.  It would certainly have been prudent to have done so, although I'm not sure how we would have gotten to them as they are in the salon.  And neither of us felt we could have maneuvered below deck to get them.

As I sat there drinking beer, I still could not figure out what had happened to the port sheet that had gone in the water and obviously got caught up in the propeller shaft.  Then it dawned on me that the 2 lines that we recovered from the port side that had parted was much shorter than the line on the starboard side.  We went to the cockpit and measured, and sure enough, there were several feet missing from the port line.

From this we speculate that the port line must have broken twice and a part of the line somehow got wrapped on the propeller shaft and when we had put the boat in neutral while anchoring at the Cape, the line had somehow come off and dropped to the bottom of the ocean.

It really doesn't make sense that this could have happened, but it's the only explanation we've come up with.

After another beer or so, we started putting the boat back together and assessing the damages (none).  We ended up spending a good part of the afternoon just cleaning the boat and piddling, probably just working off the nervous energy.

In retrospect, this was a great adventure.  I've always said that the boat could handle a lot rougher seas than we, the crew could.  I think we've definitely proved it.  The boat did great.  The crew not so good.

I know I'm not interested in going out again when the winds are over 25 knots (maybe 22 knots will be enough).

We may have made a bad decision to come back Tuesday, but the forecast for higher winds AND RAIN for Wednesday seemed to be the poorer option.  As it turned out, Wednesday was windy and rainy, so we would have had the winds with the additional misery of a driving rain.

Eureka under sail on a much calmer day.

Anna's Bbbbaaaaccckkk, Part 3

Sat, Jul 12

Another great day on the ocean!

We did some really wild tubing.  We found the standing waves in the inlet and the girls couldn't get enough, so we hit them about a dozen times.  At one point both the boat and the tube cleared the water - at the same time.

The beach was really crowded.  It's much more fun when we're the only people there.

Mimi laid down in the sand!

 Friends

I don't know!

I think they're getting tired.

Anna's Baaaacccckkkk Part 2

Thurs, Jul 10

Today is a sailing day!

Joe was able to go along with us.  The girls provided continuous entertainment - except when they were asleep.

It started out quite breezy, but later in the afternoon, the winds laid down a little and we were able to get some nice sailing in.  We stopped on the back side of Shackleford for a while and some swimming.

Yesterday, we removed the staysail and it provided a lot more room on the foredeck - for the girls to hangout.

I got my feet wet!

Me too! The water felt really good.

Papa Joe joined the girls diving off the bow.

It's not diving- it's jumping off backwards and notice how Papa Joe watches us and kinda goes ooh! As hr id jumping off.

I made sure to plug my nose, because salt water up your nose is not fun.

Anna is learning all aspects of sailing.

This is when Papa is making fun of me for having trouble bringing in the main sail in. Notice the depth. I'm not supposed to tell this story but lets just say it goes down about 2.1 feet in the next few seconds. ;) Don't worry Papa Joe and I saved the day.

Ana Claire hangs on!

Fri, Jul 11

This afternoon, Ana Claire, Anna and Papa take off for a fffffuuuuunnn ride in the Asitshdbe (the powerboat) to Cape Lookout.  We've been wanting to do this all week, but the winds have been to strong for a comfortable ride to the Cape.  Today was perfect!

We always have to visit the display panel that features Anna's Great Great Grandfather, John Quicley,who was a Keeper at the Lighthouse.

At the top of the Lighthouse

 We got the panorama idea from some tourists. I guess they aren't so bad sometimes.

 The view from the top was SO pretty! You could even see some old houses in the distance where people used to live-very cool.

 Going down and down and down 216 steps.

Wake Boarding at the Cape

I had so much fun wake boarding!

 Papa took me out into the ocean trying to head back home. I definitely got some air even if these pictures don't show it. Those waves were CRAZY! 

Ana Claire wants to make tubing an Olympic sport.  She rode the tube 15 miles from the Cape to the dock - a world record!! (Or at least a record for the day)

That kind of ride is not one for the weak tuber. Evan and I completed it last year and near killed our backs with the infamous tube rash so it was a big deal AC could do it. 

Yeah there is one thing I need to clarify about this picture- my legs are NOT that skinny in real life. Due to the angle of the picture, they appear to be like 1/2 to 1/3 of the size that they actually are. I know I'm small, but I am definitely not that small.

Anyways, during my 15 mile ride, I encountered many ocean waves, some larger than others. Some of them were REALLY big though. Imagine this: You are by yourself on a partially deflated two person tube, riding the ocean waves. Suddenly, you see a huge wave crash into the boat, and then you realize it's coming straight at you, in addition to a series of huge waves coming in from the left! For a second I was convinced that I was going to fall off, and was thankful that I had on a life jacket, however, with a strong grip on the handles, I survived all of the big waves. Yay! It made record as the longest and most exciting tube ride yet!

Anna's Baaaaaacccckk!!!!!

Sun, Jul 6

Anna in italics
Ana Claire/ AC in bold

We're excited!  Anna's coming baaaaaccccckkkkk!

Very impressive- Papa did baaaaaaaccccckkkkkk as I would have done it. Very nice Papa, very nice.

I decided that I needed to give the motor home a little workout, so we took it out of storage and drove it to meet Slade and pick up Anna and her friend, Ana Clare who is staying with us this week.

We did the cupid shuffle as we headed down the highway. Then we sat down cause all of our jumping was making them nervous.

It was my very first time in an RV- VERY spacious!

We immediately find Ana Clare fits right in with the family, so it's going to be a great week.

Like to a point of hugging Mimi and Papa and calling them Mimi and Papa so that's HUGE!

The Inscoes are an awesome family by the way- very fun.

I'm outnumbered this week!

Mon, Jul 7

The girls take off for some shopping.  Nothing else needs to be said.

OMG that is an understatement. We went consignment shop hunting and found 99 cent belts. I got 4!!! AC and I both got Ralph Lauren leather belts for a dollar each.

Anna left out the part that they weren't just leather, they were Italian leather! (Made in China lol) What a great find!

Tues, Jul 8

The winds are howling today, but we decide it's time to take the power boat out for some fun.  We ended up with 12 people shuttled over to Shackleford for the afternoon.  Dawn and crew (Dylan, Mckenna, and Dylan's girlfriend Emily) and Dawn's sister and family, the Erbs.

We tubed to shackleford and let me just say- those winds were crazy making the waves crazy and I went the whole way no hands. Now my back is dead.

I tried to go the whole way without hands, however my body unfortunately has little mass, so I tended to fly if I didn't hold on.

Adding to Ana Claire's bit, let me just say, as soon as we were out of the no wake zone, AC had a death grip on the tube.

Again, I'm super tiny and was FLYING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah that last line was legit.

It takes a couple trips to get everyone and back, but we have a heckava good time, tubing, tubing, tubing, and wake boarding, wake boarding, and wake boarding, then tubing, tubing, tubing.  By day's end, I know I'm tired.

Look Ma! No hands!

Ma? Who's Ma?

My Ma is at home. Cary, NC.

Wake boarding at Shackleford.

That's me in a crazy small life jacket cause I didn't want the life jacket to be Papa sized so yeah. Kinda a squeeze

Yeah that kiddy life jacket was mine too.... unlike Anna I could zip it up....

Are you calling me fat? I think she's callin me fat!

No... I'm calling ME Small.

 Look how close I got to the beach!!!

I couldn't stand up!!!! :'(

Somebody fell off the tube!
I think that was me. Check out Emily's face!
Yah Emily was freaking out- which was very funny. I was concentrating very hard on holding my grip... and WHAT'S THAT! ANNA's LEG IS TWICE THE SIZE OF MY ENTIRE TORSO!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT IS THIS????

"I think I can", Emily
She's like the little train who could!
And then couldn't, gave up, then left.

Three girls on a tube!

NO HANDS YET AGAIN!

Yeah I'm in the middle, without a backrest, so hands are necessary.

Four girls on a tube!

Wow, my facial expression in that picture really CAPTURES my beauty- NOT!!!

Emily and Dylan going for a ride!

HA when they were flipped Dylan fell off first! He claims to have been breaking Emily's fall... 

SURE! Lets go with that.

Anna and Ana Claire

In our shirts so we don't die the slow and gruesome death of sunburn now I got a weird tank top tan

MMM that was good Gatorade.

The crew on the beach soaking up too many rays!

I think they fell pretty quickly!

WE DID NOT FALL WE SAT DOWN CAUSE WE GOT TIRED

Anna says it was harder for her to balance because she 'has a higher center of gravity'. So yeah. I sat down with her.

AC was the one who suggested we sit down because of the 'approaching waves'.

Ironically enough, as soon as Anna types that, she turns to me and says "Lets just say that you said that". 
That's not what happened though, but lets pretend. For Anna's sake.

I just said the above quote cause I could not quite remember what Ana Claire had said at the time- keeping my balance was the main priority, not listening to Ana Claire talk some more.

As you can all tell, Anna seems to be a very reliable source of information on the subject, seeing that she can't remember exactly what I said. So, I will let YOU decide who is telling the story right.

Just ignore the bold and we'll be all good. AC is exaggerating some and so am I so yeah - just forget this whole section. MOVING ON.

Even upside down!

I'm the one with the crazy non tan marshmallow white legs.

Yay! I'm the tannest! LOL

Hush up

McKenna and Kita

Wed, Jul 9

Another "lay day" (which means the girls go shopping - aaaaggggaaain).  Meanwhile, Joe and I work on the sailboat.  We've finally gotten the new sink faucet installed, a new air filter installed, and the main sail that blew out last Saturday fixed.  However, it was too windy to hoist it.

I got the absolute cutest tank EVER! Just wait til yall see it. (This just applies to Mom and Dad.)

Yes, we had lots of fun shopping. So, things have been going AWESOME this week to sum it all up.

This one I won't forget

Fri, Jul 4

A Hurricane!!

We've been hearing all week that a hurricane may develop off the coast of Florida and move up the East coast.  We really haven't thought much about it.  After all, if the hurricane develops off the East Coast of Florida, how bad can it get just tracking up the coast.

Well, it can get pretty bad, especially if you're dead center of landfall.  And we were.

Thursday, Joe and I went out to Eureka to tidy the boat up a little and make sure that it was ready for a little wind that may come our way.  We were forecast to be on the West side of the hurricane if it even hit land, and that wouldn't be too bad - maybe to 50 - 60 knot winds.

Even as late in Thursday evening as 6 pm the forecast was still for the hurricane to maybe strike around Cape Lookout - about 10-15 miles East.

Boy, did they get that wrong (what did we expect of NOAA, they never get it right).

Jean and her daughter, Emily are going to spend the night here because Jean is concerned that a big pecan tree in her yard may blow over on her house.

Around 9 pm I decide to go on out to the boat for the night - just in case something happens.  The forecast is still for the hurricane to strike land around the Cape.

I went on out with a book and settled in.   There are quite a few boat owners at the marina, either on their boats or at the club house.

Around 10:30 the winds start picking up and our wind speed indicator is showing occasional gusts to 40+ knots - about what I expect.

All of a sudden I start hearing a loud popping noise and look out the hatch with the flashlight and can see a head sail (the big one on the front of the sailboat) on a boat just a few slips away starting to unfurl and flapping in the wind and making loud popping noises as it starts to rip itself apart.  Thank goodness that's not us.

Then I start checking the radar on my cell phone it actually is looking like the eye of the hurricane is tracking straight toward Beaufort, and sure enough, it really does.

The eye of the hurricane comes ashore right at Beaufort

All of a sudden around 11:15 pm, the wind and rain stops and we're calm.  Then about 10-15 minutes later - Wham!!  The winds track around from the East and slam us from the North.  With a vengeance!

Now the wind is on the nose of the Eureka as she sits in her slip.  The boat is rolling 20 degrees either side and bouncing like crazy.  I again check the current weather and find that winds are recording over 60 knots at the Beaufort airport.

The hurricane seemed to all of a sudden move East when it came ashore.  Instead of the wind shifting from East to West, as I expected, all of a sudden we're on the Western wall of the hurricane and get pounded by Northerly winds.

Suddenly I start hearing a new noise over the howling and screeching.  I peer out the hatch and shine the light on our mast and the main sail is beginning to unwrap.  (We have a roller furling mainsail).  Now I'm beginning to get in the same shape as the poor guy across the way.

I start considering my options (which are few because the wind is really howling now).  I have to get a line around the mast and sail to keep it from rolling out further.

I strip down to my bathing suit and make my way on deck holding on tight to anything I can find (remember, the wind is howling now.  I later learn that we're probably getting close to 90 mph now).  About this time, one of the other boat owners is walking along the dock and he climbs aboard the careening boat and for the next 20 minutes he helps me get some lines around the sail and mast.

After he crawls off the boat, I start checking my lines for chaffing (because the boat is swinging wildly and pulling and jerking on the lines).  The port forward line is showing some serious chaffing, so I go back to the locker and get a heavy duty line and, after many tries, lasso the piling and tie off the other end of the line around the windless on the bow of the boat.

 By now, the wind is beginning to drop off a little (to 60 knots) and I am laying exhausted below deck.

I think I'll take a nap, but that's not possible so eventually I decide to abandon the boat and head back home, arriving around 2 am.  The roads are a mess with broken limbs and branches, but it appears that there are no trees down.

This morning, I find our yard is heavily trashed with limbs and branches, but no major damage.

The yard is pretty well trashed and we lost some of the ceiling in the carport

We had lost power around 11 pm.  This morning Jean brought her generator over so we could keep the freezer and refrigerator cold.  However, the generators main purpose was so we could make coffee - and provide power for Emily's curling iron.

As I drive down Front St. I see at least 8 boats on Taylors Creek have either dragged anchor or broke their mooring lines and are laying ashore on Carrot Island.  They must have all dragged when the winds shifted to the North, which was definitely the worst part of the storm.

It was a memorable night!